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America’s Got Talent Ratings Drop, Still Owns the Night

America’s Got Talent Sees Slight Ratings Dip but Still Dominates Tuesday Night

America’s Got Talent experienced a small decline in its adults 18–49 rating compared with last week’s premiere, but the show remained the clear ratings leader on Tuesday night. While CBS’s reruns of NCIS delivered strong total viewership, they did not match AGT in the key 18–49 demo where advertisers focus most of their attention.

Overview

According to industry reporting and Nielsen Media Research, NBC’s America’s Got Talent posted an overall adults 18–49 rating reported at 2.4, down two-tenths from the 2.6 rating the show earned the prior week. Despite the dip, AGT continued to draw the largest audience across broadcast networks, peaking at roughly 11.4 million viewers in one of its half-hour segments.

For context, CBS’s NCIS rerun and NCIS: New Orleans rerun delivered solid total viewers in the 7.8–8.8 million range, but each registered well below AGT in the 18–49 demo. Other competing programs—Fox’s Hell’s Kitchen, ABC’s Extreme Weight Loss and reruns of sitcoms such as Fresh Off the Boat and black-ish—placed behind AGT in demo share and/or total viewers. The CW’s repeats (The Flash) and originals (iZombie) remained in the lower tiers on both viewers and demo.

Prime-Time Snapshot (8:00–11:00 PM)

  • NBC – America’s Got Talent (8:00–10:00 PM): overall adults 18–49 rating ~2.4 (reported), with half-hour Nielsen slices showing approximately 2.1 at 8:00, 2.3 at 8:30 and 2.6 at 9:00–9:30. Total viewers rose through the hour, peaking at about 11.4 million in the later half-hour segments.
  • CBS – NCIS (rerun) and NCIS: New Orleans (rerun): total viewers generally ranged from roughly 7.9 to 8.8 million across the 8:00–9:30 hour, while the adults 18–49 rating stayed near 0.9/3—strong for reruns in total viewers but weaker in the younger demo.
  • FOX – Hell’s Kitchen: measured about a 1.1 adults 18–49 and roughly 3.3 million viewers in the 9:00 slot, placing it behind AGT in demo but competitive in the 9:00–9:30 hours versus other networks’ fare.
  • ABC – Extreme Weight Loss (9:00–11:00 PM) and reruns of Fresh Off the Boat / black-ish: ABC’s originals and reruns drew between 2.0 and 3.2 million viewers with demos ranging around 0.7–0.9 in adults 18–49.
  • CW – The Flash (rerun) and iZombie: smaller audience totals, with viewers generally under 2 million and demo ratings near 0.4–0.6 in adults 18–49.

Half-Hour Highlights

The half-hour Nielsen breakdown shows how AGT built its audience across the two-hour window. Early in the 8:00 hour AGT posted around a 2.1 adults 18–49 and roughly 9.6 million viewers, then climbed to 2.3/10.4M in the next half-hour. The 9:00 and 9:30 half-hours were its strongest, each showing approximately a 2.6 adults 18–49 and about 11.39–11.40 million viewers.

Comparatively, CBS’s NCIS rerun held steady in total viewers with about 8.4–8.8 million in the first hour, while NCIS: New Orleans reruns registered roughly 7.9–8.0 million viewers in the 9:00–9:30 window. Fox’s Hell’s Kitchen reached approximately 3.27–3.29 million viewers across the 9:00–9:30 half-hours with a 1.1 demo.

At 10:00 PM, NBC’s follow-up reality series I Can Do That pulled in roughly 6.2 million viewers and a 1.6 adults 18–49 rating in its first half-hour, then dipped to about 4.75 million viewers and a 1.4 demo in the 10:30 half-hour. CBS’s 48 Hours and ABC’s post-prime programming (Extreme Weight Loss) posted mid-single-digit million audiences with demo ratings normally around 0.9 or lower.

What This Means

Overall, the data indicate that even with a modest decline from its premiere, America’s Got Talent remained the dominant broadcast program on Tuesday in the crucial adults 18–49 demographic and led in total viewers during its two-hour broadcast. CBS’s procedural catalog and newsmagazine programming continue to deliver steady total-viewer numbers, which can be particularly valuable for networks relying on audience volume rather than the younger demo. Meanwhile, Fox, ABC and The CW maintained their typical positions: niche or mid-range demo performers with smaller total audiences compared to the broadcast leaders.

Sources reporting these numbers include TVByTheNumbers and industry analyst Marc Berman, with the underlying audience measurements tracked by Nielsen Media Research.